


the light in the dark if you lose your way

by la_victorienne



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-05
Updated: 2009-01-05
Packaged: 2018-10-16 00:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10560650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/la_victorienne/pseuds/la_victorienne
Summary: a snowstorm, a crisis, and torchwood is on its way.  but even the SUV is not infallible in the blizzard.





	

The snowdrift takes Jack by surprise, and he slams on the brakes as quickly as he can – but not quickly enough. First there’s one little bump, then another big one, before the SUV hits a tree and tips, rolling twice before coming to a stop on its left side, leaving Jack himself dangling in the air by his seatbelt while Ianto and Gwen moan groggily below him.

“Not exactly the situation I wanted you both incoherent and moaning in,” he quips, though there’s blood on his face and on Ianto’s chin, sliding steadily towards his mouth. Jack fumbles with the belt. “Watch out, big guy, I’m coming your way. You hear me?”

Ianto nods, his eyes fluttering open. “Come on anytime, sir.” He half-turns, opens his arms. “Shall I catch you? I’ve done it before.”

Jack just grins and unclips the seatbelt, falling the short way into Ianto’s arms, narrowly keeping their heads from colliding. “All right, Ianto?” he asks, sharp eyes and quick fingers examining the body under him. Ianto nods again, and his eyes are bright, not pain-dulled. “Good. I’m going to check on Gwen, okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

Jack steals a kiss before he starts to scramble in Gwen’s direction, calling out for her. “Gwen, I’m coming to you now. You with me?”

“I’m – ah – I’m here, Jack,” she calls, though there’s a wince in her voice. Jack is over her in an instant, fingers crawling with purpose over her limbs. She cries out when he gets to her left arm – dislocated, fractured, something.

“Okay, kids, there’s only one thing for it – Gwen’s injured and the SUV is pretty ugly, though none of the windows are broken, which is a good sign, but no-one will be able to get out here in this storm. I’m going to climb out and see if I can tip her upright, get our bearings back, and we’ll start from there.” Jack moves back towards the front, using Ianto’s thigh as leverage to get up towards the other door, and pushes himself out with the steering wheel as help.

The snow is fast-moving, blinding, whipping through his hair and around his body with almost vicious speed. He hears Ianto shouting out at him: “I’m going back to Gwen, so hold on a second! I’m going to brace her with my body, make sure she doesn’t jostle that arm too much.”

He isn’t sure what made him believe he could move a two-ton vehicle to its correct position by himself, or without dying in the process, but through some miracle, he rocks the SUV back and forth, back and forth, until finally the momentum brings its wheels jarringly to the ground. Jack scrambles back into the car with cold hands and even colder lips, heading immediately for the bundle Ianto and Gwen have made of themselves, his arms around her, cushioning her from any of the impact. Jack is welcomed into the embrace, Ianto shoving one of his freezing hands between his own thighs and instructing Gwen to do the same, without any prompting from Jack himself. He sits for a moment, regaining feeling in his fingertips, and marvels briefly at his team’s ingenuity.

He curls his hands slowly around the legs under them, laying quiet possession to his most prized objects. Gwen leans slowly against his shoulder, her cheek brushing the wool of the greatcoat twice before settling, and Ianto thrusts his own hand under Jack’s, curling and twining their fingers.

Jack is overwhelmed by the love.

They rely so heavily on each other now, the three of them, building their pyramid of defiance and pain. Jack knows not whether he loves them or no, whether he is in love with Ianto or Gwen, or both at the same time, and it occurs to him as the air chills around them that maybe it doesn’t matter, and maybe it matters too much.

Funny, how he can’t bring himself to care. What they have, he’s never had before – mutually dependent and content to be such – and it’s the purest emotion he’s felt in a long time, for once not tainted by his own worries of “being a good person.” He knows he’ll fight for these two beautiful people until he dies a thousand times over, and when they finally die, it will be for him.

The thought leaves him with a kind of peace.

The storm lifts.


End file.
